The Supreme Court Justice who wrote the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade displayed an upside-down “Stop the Steal”-intentioned flag at his house, less than two weeks after the Jan. 6 insurrection, purportedly in order to protest anti-Trump signs a neighbor had erected.
You heard that right, and yes, it is breaking news.
As reported by Jodi Kantor, for the New York Times:
After the 2020 presidential election, as some Trump supporters falsely claimed that President Biden had stolen the office, many of them displayed a startling symbol outside their homes, on their cars and in online posts: an upside-down American flag.
One of the homes flying an inverted flag during that time was the residence of Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., in Alexandria, Va., according to photographs and interviews with neighbors.
The upside-down flag was aloft on Jan. 17, 2021, the images showed. President Donald J. Trump’s supporters, including some brandishing the same symbol, had rioted at the Capitol a little over a week before. Mr. Biden’s inauguration was three days away. Alarmed neighbors snapped photographs, some of which were recently obtained by The New York Times. Word of the flag filtered back to the court, people who worked there said in interviews.
The Times article focuses on the fact that at the time of Justice Alito’s display of loyalty and support for Trump and the Jan. 6 riot, the Supreme Court was actively engaged in deciding whether to take
up one of Trump’s cases alleging fraud in the 2020 election. Alito voted in favor of Trump's position in that case, and lost.
The ethical violations of such a public display by a member of the federal judiciary are discussed.
Alito claims it was all his wife’s doing.
“I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” Justice Alito said in an emailed statement to The Times. “It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”
Alito is either lying, or else he simply approved (and maintained) the display, as he would have seen the flag every time he opened his front door, assuming he doesn’t have remarkably bad vision. According to neighbors, the flag remained up for several days.
This is corruption and overt, explicit political bias, quite literally at the highest levels of our government.
As Kantor notes:
Judicial experts said in interviews that the flag was a clear violation of ethics rules, which seek to avoid even the appearance of bias, and could sow doubt about Justice Alito’s impartiality in cases related to the election and the Capitol riot.
That’s an understatement. This is the Justice now charged with determining whether Donald Trump should be immune from prosecution for his activities surrounding the Jan. 6 assault on our capitol. One of the other Justice’s wives actively abetted and encouraged the insurrection. What does that say about the state of our federal judicial system?
Doesn’t get much worse than this, folks. Others will be writing about this at length, I have no doubt.
That’s all.